Functional Akira Motorcycle Reproduction Hits The Road For Charity

Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic Akira has no doubt inspired innumerable fantasies about flying down the road on Kaneda’s motorcycle. Not satisfied with the prospect of having the machine exist only in the pages of a book, Masashi Teshima invested seven years and 10 million yen (about $121,000) to build his example of the bike, which is so badass that it is the only such project to earn Otomo’s official stamp of approval.

If that’s not cool enough, Teshima is currently taking the bike on a cross-country ride with the goal of raising money for autism research. Once he reaches Tokyo, the bike will be displayed at an “art of Katsuhiro Otomo” exhibition.